Ole E. Anderson and John Croon purchased Lot 1, Block 19 on May 4, 1899 from the Bemidji Townsite & Improvement Company (1/481) and paid $750 on a second deed as of Feb 1, 1901 (9/135)
This became the Lakeshore Hotel and Saloon with proprietors and business partners John E. Croon and Ole E. Anderson, who were brothers-in-law.
Petition granted in November 1901 to build a six-foot sidewalk from the old post office building [near Markham Hotel] to the Lake Shore Hotel.
Notice of Dissolution — Notice is hereby given, that the firm of Anderson & Croon is dissolved this date by mutual consent. O. E. Anderson will continue the business of the late firm and will collect all debts due the firm and will pay all indebtedness of the same. Dated January 2, 1902
The Lake Shore Hotel is being enlarged by a large and substantial addition to the rear (Oct 23, 1902)
John Croon moved to Dwight, Wisconsin where he conducted a general merchandise establishment for two years. He moved back to the Bemidji area in 1905. John Croon then took up logging and owned a saloon in Northome until returning to Bemidji where he and his wife Anna Croon ran the Nicollet Hotel.
Mr. and Mrs. James Burns leased the Lake Shore hotel in March 1904. Ole Anderson, who had conducted the hotel for some time past, left with his wife and child for Regina Canada. They spent a month visiting friends in Bemidji a year later, and then returned to Craik, Northwest Territory, where he owned a valuable farm.
Lake Shore Hotel, run by Louis Anderson, propr. (1910-1911)
Lake Shore Hotel was run by Duncan McDougal, Propr., 102 2nd Street (1912-1913).
Early Sunday morning thieves walked boldly into the Lakeshore hotel, picked up the cash register, and walked out without waking the clerk and five men who were seated in chairs in the lobby sound asleep. At six o’clock the clerk awakened and discovered the loss and immediately notified the police. No trace could be found of the guilty parties although the south section of the city including the lakeshore and tracks were thoroughly searched. Later in the morning, the register was found between the Great Northern and Soo tracks by a Mill Park resident. It had been kicked open and the contents amounting to $73 removed. A check of $30 was included in the amount taken. (Pioneer, Dec 4, 1913)
Lakeshore Hotel consisted of two buildings, the main hotel, 100’ deep by 24” wide, with separate building 1/1/2 stories high on alley, but connected by a bridge between them. (Sanborn Fire Map, 1914)
Lake Shore Hotel, run by Henry Johnson, propr. (1916-17)
Henry Johnson of the Lake Shore hotel was arrested on a charge of selling liquor without a license. Pled guilty and paid a fine of $25. (March 23, 1916)
Lake Shore Hotel, Verne O. Kane, Propr., (1918)
Patrick Stapleton took over the Lake Shore Hotel on August 5, 1918. Before he and his wife and 8 children came to Bemidji, they lived at Riga, North Dakota, about 27 miles east of Minot. He ran a store at Riga and post office. Before that they were at Mantador, ND, and before that at Wild Horse, Colorado on a homestead for about seven years.
In 1920, he was arrested for an alleged liquor violation [Prohibiton Days!] and housed as a temporary inmate at the Beltrami County Jail at the time of the 1920 census on Jan 8, 1920.
A week later when the census taker visited the hotel, he was listed again on the 1920 census as the owner/operator of the hotel on January 15, 1920.
Pat Stapleton put in some improvements starting in March 1921 by excavating under the hotel and putting in a full basement 140 feet long. He raised the building and put in full basement walls and one cross wall. He remodeled the old part of the rear; put 28 feet on the rear part of the building. Removed the old front and put in a brick front and glass, installed a heating plan. The building faced north on the corner of Second and Bemidji Avenue. The front room was the soft drink parlor, about forty feet long, and 24 ft. wide. At the back bar, he sold cigars, candy, tobaccos, fruits and nuts. There was a show case, a writing desk and two tables, chairs and two card tables. A door led into the basement off of that room and another door led upstairs and into the hotel lobby, that is, the next room.
Pat Stapleton described the hotel: The hotel lobby is where I have my register and waiting room, and there is a baggage room off of there, about 14 feet. There is a stairway is between the hotel lobby and the front room landing upstairs. Dining room is behind the lobby which takes up the entire width of the building. The dining room is about 24’x30’ and contains four tables and a chiffonier. Behind that is a kitchen. About 14’x 24. There were five bedrooms on the ground floor in the new part back of the kitchen.
The first room is a bath room, and there are two bedrooms on the east side and a front room that we use for a front room for the family, south of the kitchen attached to the building. That is in the new part of the building, two stories, connected to the hotel. This has a door leading to the street, a door to the kitchen, and another one to the alley. There are thirty (30) sleeping rooms upstairs all told. Bathroom and toilet and a sideboard for the linen in the hall. Pretty much fully occupied by customers.
Peter Turcotte started working as clerk the 22nd of September 1921, started on fair week.
Stapleton was accused by Hendrickson, a detective in town, and charged with the crime of selling intoxicating liquor to Henry Hendrickson at his place of business on the evening of November 15, 1921. Convicted but appealed. Full testimony in Case #9975, 1922. Minnesota Historical Society – State Archives.
In 1928, he was one of nine barrooms that were shut down. Injunction preventing business of any kind being conducted on the portion of the property used as a barroom. One of nine alleged nuisances to be padlocked after raid on Dec 29, 1927. Abatement proceedings were started by the state on Feb 7, 1928 to close up the places. Sheriff Andrew Johnson made a complete inventory of all the personal property in the nine alleged nuisances, which will be sold upon the order of the court. Fixtures, goblets and glasses, tables and chairs, are included in the list of belongings which will be disposed of within a short time. (Feb 15, 1928)
Lake Shore Hotel and saloon, Pat Stapleton (1934-35)
Edgewater Hotel ? (1940 Census). Patrick Stapleton, owner/operator. Pat’s Service Station, managed by Bernard Stapleton, was also at this address. One of the frequent visitors to the Hotel was Paddy the Pig, an old lumberjack who was well known in Bemidji.
In 1946, the Lake Shore Hotel was listed with Otto H. Stahl as proprietor, apartments only. The Uptown-Downtown Tavern was operated in connection with the hotel by the Stahls.
Patrick Stapleton died Dec 1, 1952 in Bemidji and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.
About 1948, Maurice and Ella Ross purchased the former Lake Shore Hotel building. The building had a colorful history, and supposedly the upstairs rooms were haunted. The business name, Morell’s came from using parts of both names, Maurice and Ella.
Lobo, the wolf, was originally in the bar of the hotel while it was owned by Pat Stapleton. Many tourists took photographs of themselves and their families with the animated statue in front of the Trading Post in the 1950’s. Lyle and Phyllis Wolter bought the business in the 1970’s. It next belonged to Abe Mann. About 1981, Morell’s Chippewa Trading Post moved to its present location on 3rd and Bemidji Avenue because of the renovation of the Midway Drive area.